Notes of a word-watcher, Hanching Chung. A first port of call for English learning.

2014年2月6日 星期四

appeal, cash reserves, security, blanket, smothering

Moody's Investors Service assigned a negative outlook to the creditworthiness of all local governments in the United States, the agency said Tuesday, the first time it had ever issued such a blanket report on municipalities.

China Orders Highest Alert for Olympics By EDWARD WONG and KEITH BRADSHERChinese officials have thrown an almost smothering blanket of security across Beijing in preparation for the start of the Olympic Games on Friday.

Ford Posts an Unexpected Profit of $997 Million By BILL VLASICThe Ford Motor Company had its first profitable quarter in North America in over four years and said that, at least for now, it had stopped rapidly burning through its cash reserves.

Deutsche Post to get billion euro cash back
A European court in Luxembourg has ruled that the German state has to repay about one billion euros to the German logistics group Deutsche Post. The court overturned a European Commission decision concerning state aid. In June 2002, the European Commission had ordered Deutsche Post to reimburse some 900 million euros in state aid that Brussels deemed to be illegal. The company said on Tuesday that following its successful appeal of the decision, the German state will now repay this amount with interest to Deutsche Post.

The New York Times leads with a look at how appealing an initial rejection of Social Security disability claims can now take as long as three years. About two-thirds of those who are initially turned down get the decision reversed on appeal, but the long wait times leaves "hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory" waiting for a resolution while frequently facing mounting financial hardship.

Security blanket

Meaning

1. A small familiar blanket or other soft fabric item carried by a child for reassurance.2. A form of harness for a baby's crib.3. All-encompassing military and political security measures.

Origin

The term 'security blanket', also known as 'comfort blanket', was coined by Charles Shulz for his Peanuts cartoon strip. That's what most references will tell you. It's always a pleasure to swim against the tide and here's an opportunity. In fact, the term 'security blanket' wasn't coined by Charles Shulz for his Peanuts cartoon strip. The derivation of 'security blanket' involves a rather meandering tale, which goes like this:Security blankets were known to Americans in the 1920s and were at that date overblankets which were clipped into babies' cribs to stop the occupants falling out. The accompanying advert is from the New York newspaper The Republican Press, November 1925, advertising fasteners for such a blanket for 59 cents.The tale now moves on to World War II. The term 'security blanket' was then used to refer to strict security measures that were taken to keep Allied military plans from falling into the hands of the Germans. The term was coined in that context by the US military while fighting in Europe. For example, this report from the Alabama newspaper The Dothan Eagle, September 1944:

Reports being issued at Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters sometimes were as much as 48 hours behind the armies because of a security blanket thrown over the operations.

Incidentally, another article from the same page as the above is titled 'British Take Brussels', which is timely as this [28th December] is the only week of the year that the headline could be recycled. For those of a non-British persuasion, many in Britain pile their Christmas dinner plates with brussels sprouts with some enthusiasm but reject them with distaste for the rest of the year.The emergence of the military use of 'security blanket' about twenty years after the use of the term in a domestic setting does suggest the possibility that those coining a new meaning for it were the babies that were tucked up under security blankets a generation earlier.Now we move on another step, to the use of the expression as 'a small familiar comforter for babies and toddlers'. Now we get to Charles Shulz, right? Not quite. Shulz drew the character Linus van Pelt with a comfort blanket in the Peanuts cartoon strip in June 1954. It wasn't until 1956, in Good Grief, More Peanuts, that the item was given a name by Linus:

"This is a 'security and happiness' blanket. All little kids carry them."

By that date the term had been in use elsewhere. The November 1954 issue of the California newspaper The Daily Review included this piece by a staff writer, under the name of 'Bev':

'Security blanket. My younger child is one year old. When she finds a fuzzy blanket or a fleecy coat she presses her cheek against it and sucks her thumb.'

appeal (REQUEST) Show phonetics
verb [I] to make a serious or formal request, especially to the public, for money or help:

They're appealing for clothes and blankets to send to the devastated region.The police are appealing to the public for any information about the missing girl.I tried to appeal to (= ask for support based on) his sense of loyalty, stressing how good the company had been to him.[+ to infinitive] Church leaders have appealed to the government to halt the war.

noun [C]when a lot of people are asked to give money, information or help:They're launching (= starting) an appeal to raise money for famine victims.[+ to infinitive] The police have issued an appeal to the public to stay away from the centre of town at the weekend.